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Pro Wrestling NOAH
Pro-Wrestling NOAH is a Japanese promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling ace Mitsuharu Misawa. NOAH is broadcast weekly in Japan, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom on The Fight Network. NOAH has working agreements with Impact Wrestling and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. History In January 1999, All Japan founder and promoter Giant Baba died, leaving the company in the hands of his widow Motoko Baba as owner and Misawa as president. However, disheartened with Motoko Baba's proposed direction for the company, Misawa departed the promotion on May 28, 2000 to form a new promotion called Pro-Wrestling Noah. All but two native stars (Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada) followed Misawa. The promotion's name alludes to the Biblical story of Noah, in which the people and animals in the ark survive the flood and make a new beginning in the world, a story which was seen as a parallel to the wrestlers' departure from All Japan. Noah's promotional symbol, an ark with a dove holding an olive branch, refers to this. Pro-Wrestling Noah is essentially a continuation of All Japan's promotional system in the 1990s, with a slight leeway to allow wrestlers from other promotions to compete, which is something that Giant Baba had forbid. Noah also features a strong junior heavyweight division, which was something that All Japan had been relatively lacking in the 1990s due to lack of pushes for the younger stars (such as Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Kenta and Naomichi Marufuji, who quickly became Noah's junior aces). Despite not being considered the #1 promotion in Japan, Noah has been able to outdo its rivals in many ways since 2005 and has managed to outdraw arch-rival New Japan Pro Wrestling in several key places (such as the Tokyo Dome). The Wrestling Observer also named Noah as the best promotion in 2004 and 2005, as well as having the best weekly television show in 2003. A spinoff league called Pro Wrestling SEM was recently launched. Similar to New Japan Pro Wrestling's "Young Lions" system, it will function as a training facility for rookies, with Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta acting as trainers. Pro Wrestling SEM is also a reference to the Biblical story of Noah, with Sem being Noah's eldest son. On June 13, 2009, Misawa teamed with Go Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith at Hiroshima Green Arena. After taking a belly to back suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital at 10:10 p.m. JST due to spinal damage. On June 27, 2009, Akira Taue was named as Misawa's successor and is the current President of Pro-Wrestling Noah. In 2010 Pro Wrestling Noah announced a new 'Global League tournament' comprising of 12 of Noah's top heavyweight stars. The promotion will celebrate its 10th anniversary in summer 2010. They have a series of special events planned to commemorate the milestone. Championships Active Championships *GHC Heavyweight Championship *GHC National Championship *GHC Tag Team Championship *GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship *GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Inactive Championships *GHC Hardcore Openweight Championship Tournaments NOAH also holds annual tournaments to decide the top wrestler or tag team in the promotion: Previous logos Pro Wrestling NOAH.png See also *History *Roster *Alumni *Event history External links *NOAH.co.jp (Official Website) *Pro Wrestling NOAH at CAGEMATCH.net Category:Japanese wrestling promotions Category:Pro Wrestling NOAH Category:Promotions